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Public-private partnership crucial to UHC law's success

By Ma. Teresa Montemayor

March 24, 2019, 6:53 pm

MANILA -- Collaboration between the public and private sectors is paramount in the delivery of quality health service through the Universal Health Care (UHC) law, the chief of the Department of Health (DOH) said Friday.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, in his speech during the Fostering UHC through Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) Forum at the Asian Development Bank in Mandaluyong City, said that he cannot overemphasize the significance of partnership with the private sector in the implementation of the law.

Duque added through such partnerships the public health care providers could acquire strategies and technologies which have long been accessible to the private sector.

“For example, shifting investments to primary care is expected when PhilHealth paying for comprehensive primary care benefit package. The direction to contract health care provider networks raises the need for solutions or technologies that can help health providers successfully achieve financial management and clinical integration,” he said.

Duque also reported that there are now five solicited projects with a total cost of PHP13 billion since the establishment of the DOH PPP office a few months ago.

“The UHC provides opportunity for private providers to expand their market reach and challenge the creativity in making value enhancing solutions. Through forum like this, we benefit from PPP experts, we learn to quantify the gaps and map where private sector can bring most value,” he said. Central Luzon Doctors Hospital president Ferdinand Francis Ma. Cid, who was one of the panelists, said that the private sector is rooting for the successful implementation of the UHC law but a “transparent implementing rules and regulations (IRR) must be made”.

“There must be a clear understanding of DOH and PhilHealth on the actual cost of providing health care. If that’s transparent we can even extend the services for them, extend to primary health care when we understand the IRR so we can influence the private sector as early as now so that UHC will not fail,” he added.

For his part, Concept Realisation Management Consultancy managing director Nasser Fares Massoud said that budget would be government's biggest challenge in fully implementing the UHC.

Massoud advised that the government must look for ways not to incur extra expenses on laboratory tests, hospitalization and other services. He said such is practiced by countries with successful public health care implementation.

“You must not look at the referral rates of patients when it comes to UHC, rather, ask yourself about the health of the population you’re attending to and how is that improving,” he said.

Massoud added the DOH must focus on the two ends of the health care continuum – the primary care and the after-treatment care.

“By actually doing that you’re reducing the pressure on your hospitalization cost base which is actually critical…by doing that you’re getting more value for your money,” he added. (PNA)

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